"Violenzia happened somewhat organically but it made sense to at least Richard and I, right from the get go," Fantagraphics associate publisher Eric Reynolds told The Comics Reporter.

"He has been interested in our digital comics plans since before we started actively releasing books digitally in 2012. He was one of the first cartoonists to approach me about releasing some of his backlist digitally, so it's been on his mind for a while.

"I believe he proposed Violenzia to me originally as a 24 or 32-page digital one shot - it eventually became 50 pages - and it was just a perfect opportunity for both of us to experiment with a digital-only release.

"I don't pretend to think it's a better model, just a different model. The biggest difference, which presents challenges as well as opportunities, is in the marketing, and in making sure both the intended and potential audiences know it exists."

Reynolds added that Violenzia was not intended as the precursor to a new digital-only line from the publisher.